NPC GM
A non-player country game moderator or "NPC GM" is an assistant position ostensibly responsible for control of NPCs, and represents the first formal attempt at co-GMship since Imperium Offtopicum V. To date, it has only been used in Taniciusfox's games, Multipolarity II and IV, and remains a highly controversial office. Multipolarity II The first NPC GM arose by accident during pre-planning stages of MP2. The game was originally slated to be a Taniboard exclusive; possibly as a test of how far Tanicius was willing to embrace double logins, the Downfall Gang each laid claim to an American state, a result that, had it been seriously adopted, would have seen Thorvald of Lym playing thirty separate countries. Tanicius' decision to host the game at CivFanatics made this scheme unfeasible, but he invited Thorvald to assume responsibility for characterizing the 50-odd NPCs in addition to his player country of China. While generally well-received by other players, it was fiercely opposed by christos200, who was playing as a rival faction and charged that Thorvald would scheme against him. Tanicius compromised by taking control of the Chinese NPCs himself, but turned these back over to Thorvald on Turn 4. Ironically, the real controversy emerged over Russia's war with Partitionania. When supposed evidence for Partitionanian subterfuge never emerged and combat operations escalated in scope and scale, NPCs whose foreign policy was not subordinated to the Diamond Coalition or its sympathizers began a steadily-increasing embargo ring against the Soviets. Patriotic_Fool contested this as "metagaming"; Thorvald responded that he was operating on a case-by-case basis that was simply resolving against his favour; other players noted that MP2 was not designed to be a war game, and as such, P_F was simply being a sore loser. P_F was further incensed when Thorvald refused an order for client states to send their entire armed forces to the Soviet front and leave the homeland defenceless, the latter stating that no self-respecting country would ever do so. The position was also tumultuous between the managers themselves. Thorvald took on the role in response to complaints over Tanicius' NPC strong-manning in Multipolarity I; when "Major" NPCs were reintegrated in Turn 3, Thorvald accused Tanicius of undermining his authority, and thereby betraying the "promise" he had made to the player base. The actual delegation of powers and chain of command were not formally defined (either to Thorvald or the general public), and players were unsure to whom communications were supposed to be directed. Thorvald assumed he had control over everything not bound by the client mechanic, but as the game progressed he found his actual authority curtailed by invisible obstacles implemented by Tanicius that were not present in Major NPCs. Tanicius also failed to provide copies of player orders to their clients, opting instead to execute them himself; this resulted in at least one instance of conflicting instructions for a client state. Multipolarity IV The NPC GM was reintroduced in MP4, this time represented by Ailedhoo. His setup was similar to Thorvald's: a list of historical figures representing the countries' "players", but also featuring a separate roster for the in-character leaders of the states. This was criticized early on as needlessly confusing, and the IC players in particular by Lighthearter as unoriginal. Ailedhoo's management became unpopular early on as his insistence on individualizing the NPCs conflicted with the game's client and influence mechanics. Players complained that client states were not behaving as they should, and that independent NPCs were behaviourally inconsistent. He was also roundly criticized for tardy responses to player inquiries, which he explained was partly due to university exams. Ailedhoo resigned on Turn 3 of his own accord, and Tanicius resumed all responsibility. Multipolarity V Rumours abound that Tanicius has hired NinjaCow64 as NPC GM for Multipolarity V. Category:Game concepts Category:Facepalm